A man armed with an AK-47 and upset about family issues set his house on
fire and prevented his wife, mother and 2 daughters from fleeing the
flames while keeping firefighters at bay Tuesday afternoon, the Lincoln
County Sheriff's Office said.

The fire destroyed the home, but no one was injured despite a half hour standoff, the sheriff's office said.

Leroy Erwin Adams, 48, is being held in the Lincoln County Jail on
charges of Reckless Burning, Arson in the First Degree and five counts
of Domestic Menacing.

Law enforcement were met on scene by Adams, who they said was armed with
an AK-47, several high-capacity magazines and a handgun. Adams was
preventing his family from leaving and stopping firefighters from
fighting the fire as flames fully engulfed the home, the sheriff's
office said.

His two daughters were able to leave the home, and several minutes later
the wife and mother got out, too, the sheriff's office said.

Adams disarmed himself and surrendered to deputies after 30 minutes of negotiations with law enforcement.

Mono County Sheriff’s Deputies, Mono County Paramedics, and Bridgeport
Fire Department were dispatched to the scene. Upon arrival, it was
determined that a father, age 57, and son, age 30, both out of county
residents, were shooting at the range and had an accidental discharge of
a rifle (.223). The bullet from the rifle struck victim one in his
right leg. The bullet penetrated both legs and exited through the left
foot. Victim two, who was standing next to victim one, sustained
shrapnel injuries. Careflight was requested for both the victims.

And here's the genius observation which, of course, downplays the gross negligence involved in ALL negligent discharges.

With unfortunate and accidental incidents such as this, it’s very
important to remember basic firearm safety tips to ensure your own
safety and the safety of those around you.

Police are investigating where a 16-year-old got a .22 handgun that
was used in an accidental shooting of his 12-year-old sister.

Assistant
Police Chief Mike Stenquist said the teenager told police “he stole the
gun from a car” about a year ago in the Clinton area.

Police were called to 221 N. 360 West, Clearfield at 5:14 p.m. Thursday to an accidental shooting. They had earlier reported the girl was 13 and her brother was 15. On Friday, Stenquist said the ages are 12 and 16.

The
girl was flown to Primary Children’s Medical Center in Salt Lake City
with a gunshot wound in the back of her shoulder. The bullet had exited
the front arm area.

What does an overhaul of the nation's immigration laws have to do with the Second Amendment right to own guns?If you're the Gun Owners of America, everything.The
GOA, a smaller cousin of the National Rifle Association that often
takes an even more aggressive approach, is branding the just-passed
Senate immigration bill, with its path to citizenship for people in the
country illegally, as an "anti-gun amnesty."As the GOA sees it, allowing the
estimated 11 million immigrants now in the U.S. illegally to eventually
become U.S. citizens would inevitably lead to many more Democratic
voters in the electorate and thus more votes for gun control
legislation.

In an interview, Larry Pratt, the GOA's executive
director, told me his experience with many Hispanic immigrants (he said
he's bilingual and that he attends a Spanish-language church) suggests
that "they really don't know much about American politics but that their
default assumption is that the Democrats are their friends.

"And
the Democrats very likely will end up getting their votes. And if that,
indeed, winds up with a Democratic dominance politically, there go our
guns," he said.

A witness in the
murder trial of neighborhood watchman George Zimmerman testified on
Friday that he saw Trayvon Martin on top of Zimmerman during a struggle
that led to the unarmed black teenager's shooting death in a central
Florida gated community last year.

But Jonathan Good, a former
resident at the townhouse complex, told the jury in Seminole County
criminal court that he never saw Martin slam Zimmerman's head into the
concrete sidewalk, undermining a key element in Zimmerman's defense.

Good initially told police the person on top
was pummeling the other in mixed martial arts style, but backed off that
account, later saying the person on top was straddling the other man,
but his arms might have been holding the other down rather than
punching.

Asked by state
prosecutor Bernie de la Rionda if he saw the "person on top" grabbing
the head of the lighter skinned man and slamming it into the concrete,
Good replied "No."

Lindzee Folgate, a physician assistant who
treated Zimmerman the day after the shooting, said his nose was "likely
broken" but could not say definitively because no X-rays were taken. She
said cuts he suffered on his head did not require any stitches.

Friday, June 28, 2013

Pro-gun fanatics love to downplay the number of negligent discharges. One of the ways they do this is to cite the numbers of deaths and dividing by the total number of gun owners in the country. This is misleading for several reasons. The number of deaths due to negligence is only a fraction of those wounded, and that is only a tiny fraction of those gravely affected, which include those doing the shooting as well as family and friends.

Even after calculating all that, we still have only a small percentage of the true number of negligent uses of guns. If we use the same standard they use for DGU calculations, it would be only 5%, the 95% being those in which no one was hurt and no record was made of the incident.

The obvious problem is when you ask gun owners if they've used their gun defensively you get a lot of volunteers. Not so when you ask if they've had a negligent discharge. That's not to say gun owners are particularly dishonest, I believe that description is limited to the gun-rights advocates who have axes to grind, no, it's just human nature. People are reluctant to admit their mistakes.

What's your opinion? Do you still think negligent discharges are so rare?

A 17-year-old Cassopolis man is in Elkhart General
Hospital in stable condition after being shot by his cousin Wednesday
night. The Cass County Sheriff's Department says the shooting was
accidental and happened when 20-year-old Jeremy Faye was putting the
weapon down after believing it was unloaded. Faye told officers he
accidentally pulled the trigger, shooting Christopher Burhnam in the
lower abdomen area. The shooting happened just before 9 p.m. at a home
in the 66-thousand block of Tharp lake Road in Calvin Township. The
accidental shooting remains under investigation, and it's not clear if
Faye will be charged.

Of course it's not clear if there will be charges? That'll take a lengthy investigation to see if there was any negligence.

Rachel Jeantel, the key witness for the
prosecution in the second-degree murder trial of George Zimmerman,
takes the stand for a second day on Thursday after a controversial
initial day of testimony.

The fireworks began soon after the 19-year-old Miami resident, one of
the prosecution's star witnesses, entered the courtroom Wednesday and
began to recount her story of being the last person to speak with
Trayvon Martin before he encountered George Zimmerman.

Not the most sympathetic witness, but what do you think? Did she help or hurt the prosecution?

On a side note, I thought Jared Marcus looked older than he is. How about this one?

Famous funnyman Jim Carrey went on a Twitter rant Sunday against his upcoming ultra-violent, superhero flick “Kick-Ass 2.”

“I did Kick-Ass 2 a month b4 Sandy Hook and now in all good conscience I cannot support that level of violence,” Carrey tweeted. ”My apologies to others involve[d] with the film. I am not ashamed of it but recent events have caused a change in my heart.”

Though Carrey is not particularly known for his violent movie roles, Hollywood is full of actors who have publicly decried gun ownership and yet continue to act in films with guns galore.

There's nothing Jim Carrey can say that will endear him to the gun nuts, not after that video he produced. I suppose his presentation of all the traditional jokes and stereotypes hit too close to home for many. I don't think a single pro-gun person admitted it was pretty funny.

But what do they think about his "change of heart?" That sounds pretty good, doesn't it?

On the other hand, aren't the pro-gun, pro-rights folks among the most vocal about the 1st Amendment rights of movie-makers to portray violence without in any way being responsible for real-life violence? Aren't the gun-rights folks the ones who keep saying there is no shared responsibility, that only those who commit violence are responsible for their actions?

Why then do they make such a big deal out of this, even calling actors hypocrites for supporting gun control? First they say, movies don't cause people to act violently, then they denounce actors as hypecrites for disagreeing with their politics. I think that makes them hypocrites.

What do you think? Please leave a comment.

One word about Jason Bourne. In those wonderful films, the Matt Damon character often avoided using a gun. Being the CIA's "$30 million dollar killing machine," he was able to inflict incredible violence with his bare hands. Wouldn't that spare him of the hypocrite label?

Lawyers prosecuting the Trayvon Martin shooting case will have an opportunity to sketch a portrait of defendant George Zimmerman, now that the trial judge has decided the jury can hear five of Mr. Zimmerman's nonemergency 911 calls to police. The calls could help shape jurors' impressions of Zimmerman, who is on trial in Florida for second-degree murder, as either a seething vigilante or a stand-up community organizer.The judge has previously ruled that the jury won’t be able to consider social media interactions by Trayvon that describe pot-smoking, guns, and a fascination with martial arts fighting. The defense had said that, similarly, the 911 recordings of Zimmerman are immaterial because they don’t pertain to the moments before Trayvon was shot.But prosecutors say the 911 calls show what they characterize as Zimmerman’s zealous, angry mind-set and “ill will.” The calls “show the context in which [Zimmerman] sought out his encounter with Trayvon Martin,” prosecutor Richard Mantel told the judge before her ruling.

I can just hear all the pro-gun Zimmerman-defenders whining about how unfair it is to consider Zimmerman's past and not Martin's.

The difference is obvious, except to the extremely biased. As the judge ruled, the 911 tapes will show the mentality of the neighborhood watchman immediately prior to the killing. Martin's alleged pot smoking has nothing to do with it.

Brandon Leigh Switzer, 22, of East Union Street, told police his thumb slipped off the hammer on his 9mm handgun that discharged a round striking Zachary Williams, 23, in the head inside 32 N. Sherman St. just before 4 p.m.Williams was pronounced dead at Geisinger Wyoming Valley Medical Center in Plains Township.City police and Luzerne County detectives charged Switzer with the manslaughter charge Tuesday night. Switzer was arraigned by District Judge Rick Cronauer and released after posting $250,000 bail.Switzer told police in a statement that Williams asked to see his .9mm handgun. Switzer ejected the magazine and began to hand it to Williams when he realized he had chambered a round, according to the criminal complaint.Williams grabbed the firearm’s muzzle when Switzer said his thumb slipped off the hammer, causing it to discharge a round that struck Williams in the head, the complaint says.

The city's new police chief was cleaning his newly issued weapon Monday afternoon and apparently shot himself in the hand, according to a press release issued by a city official Tuesday.Chief Mark Hathaway, a 25-year veteran officer who was selected as the city's chief in April, and other officers had just returned from training with their new guns in Brewer when the shooting took place.A Maine State Police lieutenant accidentally discharged his weapon in February at a staff meeting, when he shifted in his seat and his holstered weapon went off. An investigation concluded in May by a division of the Maine State Police was unable to determine why his firearm accidentally discharged during the computer training session.

Wednesday, June 26, 2013

The city's homicide rate for the first quarter of this year is up 50
percent from the same period in 2012 In February, for example, a fatal
shooting on the Strip only a couple of blocks from our hotel led to a
car crash that also killed a cab driver and his passenger, for a total
of three deaths, and just two weeks before we arrived, two died and two
were injured in a gun-related, double murder-attempted suicide.
The Vegas police department has above average success arresting the
perpetrators -- 75 percent against the national rate of 65 percent --
but oddly, as columnist J. Patrick Coolican of the Las Vegas Sunreports,
"In nonlethal shootings, when the victim survives, the criminal is more
than 90 percent likely to get away with the crime... In 2012, for
instance, there were 313 nonlethal assaults with firearms. Just 20 of
the cases led to an arrest."

And the day before we arrived in Las Vegas, Nevada's Governor Brian
Sandoval vetoed a bill authorizing universal background checks for gun
purchases in the state. According to the website ThinkProgress,"The
bill, passed by Nevada's Democratically controlled state legislature,
would have required a background check prior to all gun sales and would
have increased reporting of mental illness data. The National Rifle
Association's lobbying arm called the proposal 'misguided gun control legislation being forced on law-abiding citizens of Nevada.'"

In fact, an April poll found that 87 percent of Nevada voters favored
the background check, but "Sandoval said his decision was in part due to
the loud voices of that small minority that does not believe criminal
background checks should be required prior to gun purchases. He told a local TV station that he'd received 28,000 calls from opponents, and only about 7,000 from supporters."

There's the real power of the NRA and the gun lobby for you. Not just
the money they throw at media buys and at officeholders and candidates
-- in fact, last year only three of the sixteen U.S. Senate candidates
endorsed by the NRA won. No, it's the sheer stridency and lungpower of
their opposition to any perceived threat to gun ownership.

It’s not very
often that one witnesses infighting within the gun community, but the
National Rifle Association is embroiled in a battle with fellow pro-gun
organizations, the National Association for Gun Rights (NAGR) and Gun
Owners of America (GOA), over a controversial Florida Bill – House Bill 1355
— that would prohibit individuals who voluntarily seek mental health
treatment upon being deemed a ‘threat to themselves or others’ from
purchasing a firearm.

Under current law, only people who are involuntarily committed are
banned from buying a gun, those who willingly seek treatment after being
detained as part of the state’s Baker Act –
which allows judges, law enforcement, physicians and mental health
professionals to call for the involuntary examination of an individual —
can still purchase a firearm.

Critics of HB 1355 argue that the bill skirts due process and has the
potential to erode the Second Amendment rights of law-abiding citizens.

In response to this grassroots activism in opposition to this
NRA-backed bill, Marion Hammer, the NRA’s point person in the Sunshine
State, has lashed out against GOA and NAGR and gone to great lengths to
educate gun owners about the bill in an attempt to refute what she
called “patently false” criticism and information.

“These are not organizations that are here on the ground, working the
issue,” said Hammer in an interview with the Miami Herald. “They are
full of disinformation designed to inflame and upset people and help
them raise money.”

Hammer rejected the notion that the bill poses a risk to responsible gun owners.

Wendy Dorival, who trained Zimmerman in his duties as the watch
representative for his gated community, described him as “a little meek”
and someone who wanted to “make changes in his community to make it
better.”

For the defense:

The photos were as unforgettable as they were haunting: Trayvon Martin’s
dead body, sprawled out in wet grass; the 17-year-old’s Nike shirt,
pierced with a bullet hole; his limp wrist; his chest; and his face,
slack.

Second day wrapup:

Jurors will likely not forget the images of Martin’s body, yet their
mental picture of Zimmerman on the night of Martin’s death will weigh
far more in the outcome of this trial.

One of the most anticipated murder trials in recent
memory began with a torrent of profanity from the prosecution and a
knock-knock joke from the defense.

The state of Florida’s case against George Zimmerman began on Monday
with the expected debate about whether the man who shot and fatally
wounded 17-year-old Trayvon Martin in February 2012 committed murder or
acted in self-defense. What was not expected was a bit of forced humor,
which fell jarringly flat.

The lead defense attorney, Don West, declared early in his remarks
that “sometimes you have to laugh to keep from crying” and then ventured
a joke. He confessed it was “a little bit weird” to do so and asked the
jury to avoid holding the joke against the defendant.

Then he went ahead.

“Knock, knock,” West said, stunning both the jury and the assembled onlookers.“Who’s there?” he answered himself.“George Zimmerman.”“George Zimmerman who?”“All right. Good. You're on the jury.”

There was barely a reaction.

“Nothing?” West said, in genuine surprise.

This was met with some nervous laughter.

It was a deeply strange way to open a trial about a killing that has
rattled and vexed an entire nation. The death of Martin, on his way home
from buying candy at a local convenience store, has touched a national
third rail, launching arguments and protests about race, gun laws and
civil rights.

Later, after a lunch recess, West apologized. “I really thought it was funny,” he said. “Sorry if I offended anyone.”

A clunky start struggled to find footing as West slogged through a
long trail of evidence that lasted more than two-and-a-half hours. The
argument meandered, and West admitted as much.“I don’t know if you follow what I mean,” he told the jury at one point.

There’s good news for the children of Mississippi; their state is no longer the worst place to be a kid.
That’s because a new set of annual rankings on children’s welfare says
New Mexico has dethroned Mississippi's perennial hold on the bottom
ranking of the Kids Count list.For the past 24 years, the Annie E. Casey Foundation has used a
series of 16 indicators to rank the well-being of children in all 50
U.S. states. This year’s edition is the first to not place Mississippi at 50 out of 50 on the list, citing gains in health and education. However, Mississippi is still No. 49 on the list.The foundation also noted that a third of Mississippi’s children continue to live in poverty. By comparison, 13 percent of New Hampshire’s children are listed as living at or below the poverty level.On the opposite end of the spectrum, New Hampshire, Vermont and Massachusetts finished at the top of the children’s well-being list.“While we are not where we need to be, the fact that our child and
teen death rate, along with some decrease in the percentage of children
without health insurance has been helpful,” Mississippi Kids Count
Director Linda Southward told the Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal.There also appears to be an overall improving trend in the South.
Louisiana, which was 46th on the list, is the only other Southern state
to finish in the bottom five. However, the Southwest has fared less
well—three of the bottom-five states are New Mexico, Arizona and Nevada.

Monday, June 24, 2013

The NRA leaders like to speak on behalf of law-abiding gun owners and
they often argue that any infringement on gun owner's freedoms,
including background checks or limits on the types of guns that can be
purchased, are unfair burdens placed upon lawful gun owners. However,
the NRA's objections may stem in part from the fact that many members of
the NRA leadership are not in fact law-abiding gun owners. The NRA
board is populated with a smattering of criminals whose objection to gun laws
might be rooted not in their concern for law-abiding gun owners, but
their desire to protect fellow criminals. Let us meet the criminals in
high places within the NRA's leadership:Harlon Carter: Murderer, Former NRA President and architect of the Cincinnatti Revolution within the NRATed Nugent: Serial poacher and wannabee presidential assassinDon Young: And you thought Sarah Palin was bad?Larry Craig: Does the NRA board let him have his own bathroom?David Keene: NRA President and road rage's poster father?Manny Fernandez: Proof that outlawing guns does not keep guns out of criminal handsBob Brown: Accomplice to multiple murders?The NRA leadership is unqualified to speak on behalf of law-abiding gun ownersGiven that the NRA leadership is populated with a number of men who
have been convicted of criminal activity or have been implicated in
serious violent crimes, up to and including murder, they are in no
position to speak on behalf of law-abiding gun owners. Murderers, murder
for hire facilitators, serial poachers and other criminals lack the
moral authority to lecture the nation on how to protect law-abiding
citizens from the "bad guys" with guns. Some of the "bad guys" with guns
are sitting on the NRA's Board of Directors, and it is about time the
"good guys" (without guns) do something to stop them. Congress can
continue to cower in fear of the NRA or they can stand up and do
something to stop the "bad guys" with guns from bullying the nation into
submission yet again.

Has anyone else noticed The Examiner has been using a better caliber of author lately?

The shooting happened at about 7 p.m. in the 1200 block of
Summerfield Drive when a man was loading his gun inside his house when
it accidentally fired, Herndon police said.

The bullet exited the house and struck a passing cyclist in the abdomen area. The cyclist was transported to the hospital.

The man who discharged the weapon has been identified as 49-year-old
John Albers, of Herndon. Police said Albers didn’t know the cyclist and
that the shooting was accidental.

Albers has been charged with willfully discharging a firearm in a public place resulting in bodily injury.

This is a good example for Kurt, who seems to be having a hard time understanding that the world isn't simply divided between good guys and bad guys. Up until the moment of this irresponsible and criminal act, Mr. Albers was one of the many law abiding responsible gun owners, the ones who make us all safer. Then, suddenly he became a criminal.

It's not fair to him, to Albers, to say that because he committed a criminal act he was a criminal. Even now he's only charged with a crime. But, before the negligent action, he was one of the good guys.

As I've explained many times, the group called "good guys" is plum full of irresponsible and negligent idiots as well as out-and-out law breakers who just haven't been caught yet.

Federal data released this week show that 1,601 guns legally bought
in Ohio last year were linked to crimes such as robbery and murder in 36
other states.

Another 5,375 guns stayed in Ohio and were linked to crimes in 2012, based on the data from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and
Explosives.

The stats show Ohio also was a top contributor to gun-related crime
in other states in 2011, with about 1,700 guns showing up in crimes in
38 other states.

Law enforcement and gun-control advocates say it's no surprise.

"People know they can come to Ohio, get a gun and take it someplace
where there are tougher restrictions," Columbus Deputy Police Chief
Jeffrey Blackwell said. "It happens at gun shows in the sticks and
through underground schemes on city streets."

The Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence says the state has too many
loopholes for gun ownership that serve as a "beacon" for a
gun-trafficking market. The law doesn't require background checks for
all gun sales, and the state doesn't keep track of who buys them.
Violent misdemeanors, such as domestic violence, don't disqualify
someone from making a firearm purchase.

Associated Press/Orlando Sentinel, Gary Green, Pool, file - FILE - This
June 20, 2013 file photo, George Zimmerman listens as his defense
counsel Mark O'Mara questions potential jurors during Zimmerman's trial
in Seminole circuit court in Sanford, Fla. Judge Debra Nelson said
Saturday, June 22, 2013, that prosecution audio experts who point to
Trayvon Martin as screaming on a 911 call moments before he was killed
won't be allowed to testify at trial. Nelson reached her decision after
hearing arguments that stretched over several days this month on whether
to allow testimony from two prosecution experts. (AP Photo/Orlando
Sentinel, Gary Green, Pool, file) More at Yahoo News